‘Trouble down mine’ is the least of the problems facing the Player Characters in The Magonium Mine Murders, a scenario which details the many plots and mysteries that have beset the settlements of the Halbeck Valley. The kingdom in which the Halbeck Valley sits is moderately wealthy with an awareness of magic that sees it put to war in the long running conflict with the neighbouring barbarian tribes. The government is notoriously corrupt, its nobles and politicians accepting bribes and when not corrupt, likely incompetent. The war is unpopular, more so since conscript was instituted. Those workers dubbed essential are not subject to the draft and wear a magical token to indicate their exemption. This includes the workers at the mine in the Halbeck Valley where magonium ore, a rare mineral with magical properties important to the war, is dug out of the ground. Prisoners captured from the barbarian tribes are also made to work in the mines. There are reports of deaths in the mines, but the money that the actual miners are making from the extra demand for magonium has made them relatively wealthy and they are spending it in the taverns and brothel that have sprung to cater for them in a nearby village, turning it into a ‘new’ town, much to the annoyance of the villagers. There are rumours too, of bandits attacking travellers in the valley, and there is very much likely to be more than this going on, but now, there is news that Reith Alba, boss of the mine, has been found dead with a crossbow bolt in her back!

The Magonium Mine Murders is a scenario published by Gonzo History Project, better known as James Holloway, the host of the Monster Man podcast. It written for use with Old School Essentials, Necrotic Gnome’s interpretation and redesign of the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Stephen M. Marsh. Designed to be played by a party of Second to Third Level Player Characters—up to Fourth Level—it is what the author calls a ‘Cluebox’. What this really means is that it combines elements of a murder mystery with a sandbox, so a “sandbox-style murder-mystery scenario” according to the author. The scenario requires some set-up in terms of the setting, primarily the two warring kingdoms and the importance of a magical ore and its associated industrialisation. Beyond that, the plots—of which the scenario has a total of seven—are easily adaptable. For example, The Magonium Mine Murders could be run in a Science Fiction or a Wild West setting with some retheming and some renaming, or the scenario could just simply be adapted to the fantasy roleplaying game of the Game Master’s choice.

Part of that is due to the easy presentation of the content. Two pages labelled ‘What’s Going on’ sum up the scenario’s many, varied, and highly interconnected plots, followed by pages that provide detailed summaries of the Halbeck Valley, the two towns—the old and the new, the mining camp, the mine itself, and more. The information is really very well organised and accessible for the Game Master. The starting point for the scenario is the page actually called ‘Getting Started’, which offers several hooks to pull the Player Characters into its plots. These include investigating Magonium poisoning in the river, infiltrating a gambling ring, delving into the mine to determine the cause of a recent spate of accidents, and even do some debt collection! Any one of these can be used as the initial hook and then the others introduced as necessary when the Player Characters interact with the associated NPCs. Alternatively, the hooks could be tailored to specific character types. For example, a Druid Player Character could be asked to investigate the Magonium polluting the river, a Thief Player Character instructed to collect the debt, a Dwarf Fighter hired to investigate the mine, and so on. This would provide the players and their characters with more individual hooks and motivations. Of course, the main hook for the scenario is the murder of the head of the mine.

The murder site is the office of the head of the mine and is one of the few detailed locations in the scenario. The others include the ruined temple where the bandits stash their loot and some caverns under the under the mine, though the former is not as pertinent to the scenario’s plots as the latter is. The investigation is supported by a series of events that occur over the course of the investigation and by details of some fifteen NPCs. Their descriptions are thumbnail in nature and include details of what they know and any activities or reasons that the Player Characters might become suspicious of them. Each is also accompanied by a portrait. These vary in quality and style, but in general suggest that the scenario is set during the Industrial Revolution. This is followed by rules for Magonium poisoning, handling the prize fights being run in the New Town, a bestiary with full stats for the NPCs, and the various items, magical and otherwise, to be found in the scenario. The rules for handling prize fights do not add anything mechanical, even though Old School Essentials and similar retroclones are poor at handling unarmed combat. (As an option, the Game Master might want to look at Brancalonia – SpaghettiFantasy Setting Book for its non-lethal combat rules.) Rather, they add narrative detail and track the course of the prize fights—which are, of course, rigged.

Rounding out The Magonium Mine Murders is advice on running the scenario, necessary, as the author points out, since the scenario is not a natural fit to Dungeons & Dragons-style adventures with its heavy emphasis on investigation. The advice primarily consists of letting the players drive the investigation, relying upon their descriptions of what their characters are doing rather than on dice rolls and being generous with the clues to keep the story and their investigation going. This even extends to possible solutions to the various situations in the Halbeck Valley. Although there is a solution as to who committed the murder of the mine chief, how the other plotlines in the scenario are concluded is really up to the Player Characters and that is even if they engage with a particular plotline. With so many, the Player Characters may not encounter all of them and even if they do, not always follow up on them.

Overall, what The Magonium Mine Murders presents is a set of plots, places, and NPCs that the Game Master can present to her players and their characters and have them pull and push on them as they like. In places though, the Game Master is likely going to wish that there were more detail. The towns in particular are underwritten and feel as if they are in need of colour, especially New Town, which has the rough and tumble feel of a frontier town that has struck it rich. The Game Master is going to want to add some incidental NPCs and events to add colour and flavour and so enforce a sense of place. This is less of an issue in the Old Town. Similarly, the NPC descriptions are a bit tight and with so many of them, the Game Master, will need to work hard to make them stand out from each other. What this means is that the Game Master will need to do development work in addition to the usual preparation effort.

Physically, The Magonium Mine Murders is decently presented and organised. Both artwork and cartography are serviceable, and the writing is decent, if terse in places. The format of the adventure is fanzine style, but is not fanzine in the traditional sense.

The Magonium Mine Murders is an interesting attempt to combine a sandbox with a murder mystery—and it is an attempt that does work. The Game Master is certainly given enough information to run it and its numerous plots from the page, but the scenario is underwritten and lacks colour in places. What this means is that the Game Master is probably going to want to develop and flesh out some aspects of the scenario to enhance its roleplaying aspects and make it come alive, at the very least. Despite possessing a tendency toward succinctness, The Magonium Mine Murders packs a lot of play into its pages and is likely to be a decent, player-driven investigation.

Fantasy Friday Edition

Exploration is one of the core pillars of fantasy roleplaying.

But what does it mean to explore?

In Dungeons & Dragons, especially old-school editions, exploration often means mapping the dungeon one corridor at a time, or the world one hex at a time. Every turn is a decision, every door a threat, every torch a precious hour of light. There’s danger in the dark, but also treasure, and secrets the surface world forgot. It’s a gritty, tactile kind of exploration, and I love it.

In Pathfinder, exploration becomes more dynamic and often more epic. You’re not just crawling through ruins, you’re mapping uncharted wilderness, navigating complex cultures, and solving arcane mysteries baked into the world’s DNA. There’s a heroic scale to it. You’re not just surviving, you’re discovering your place in a mythic world.

In the Wasted Lands, the world itself is still waking up. You explore not only geography, but myth. You carve stories into the world that future ages will only dimly remember. Here, the ruins aren’t ancient, they’re being made. Exploration becomes a spiritual act. When you cross into unknown territory, you’re not following in footsteps, you’re making them.

Daggerheart invites a more emotional kind of exploration. The stories live just as much in who your character is as in where they go. The haunted forest is scary, sure, but what you fear might not be the wolves in the woods; it’s the memory of why you ran from home. Exploration here isn’t just a map; it’s a mirror. That’s no less heroic, it’s just a different kind of bravery.

Even in cozy fantasy games or weird narrative indies, exploration plays a role. Maybe you’re uncovering your grandmother’s secret recipes in a magical bakery. Maybe you’re exploring forgotten traditions in a village steeped in folklore. Discovery isn’t always tied to danger, but it always brings change.

Because that’s what exploration does in fantasy RPGs:

 It changes things.

You can’t go into the unknown and come back the same. The world shifts.  The character grows.  The player remembers.

Whether you’re following a raven into the deep woods, stepping into a glowing portal, sailing beyond the edge of the map, or just opening a door labeled “Do Not,” you’re exploring.

And that, to me, is the heart of fantasy gaming.

Not killing monsters. Not hoarding gold. But going where you haven’t gone before, and discovering what you didn’t know you were looking for.

So wherever your players are headed tonight, whether it’s a dragon’s lair, a crumbling keep, or a roadside tavern with one too many shadows, remember this:

Every great story starts with someone deciding to go a little further than they should have.

Questions

What. Proud. Lesson.

What lesson made me proud? I think it was back when I was teaching my kids to play. They both started very young and I used it as a means to teach them simple math. I think my oldest was about 3 or so, and when he finally "got it" and was doing all the addition and subtraction in his head, it was an excellent time for both of us.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

Everyone has agreed that the best way of getting off the island is to build a raft. However, nobody can agree on the best way to build a raft, or even how to build a raft. Whilst everyone has also agreed that the best way to get off the island with their treasure is the raft, the raft is so rickety that it is in danger of collapsing and dumping everyone into the sea. Fortunately, there are no sharks, but when you fall into the sea, it is everyone for themselves as they try to rescue their treasure. It is perfectly possible to rescue your own treasure, but not the treasures belonging to your fellow raft builders, and if you lose their treasure, they will get mad at you and throw you off the raft! This is the set-up for Rafter Five, a fast-playing dexterity game for one to six players, ages seven and up. Published by Oink Games—best known for the games Scout and Deep Sea Rescue—Rafter Five is a game that uses all of its components, including the box lid and base, looks great on the table, plays in twenty minutes or so (but probably faster depending on the dexterity of the players), and surprisingly for an Oink Games title, is not a squeeze to get back in the box!

Rafter Five consists of five Rafters, forty-two Treasure Chests, six Penalty Boards, one Raft Card, forty-two Lumber Cards, and the rules leaflet. The Rafters are the game’s meeples, ones that the players will move around from one turn to the next. They are much larger than standard meeples and vary in size and shape, tall, fat, thin, short, and really help to give the game much of its character. Plus, they feel good in the hand. The Treasure Chests come in six colours, so that each player has a set of seven. The Penalty Boards also come in six colours to match the Treasure Chests and have five slots marked with an ‘X’. If a player’s Penalty Board is filled up with the Treasure Chests of the other players, he loses and is out of the game. The Raft card forms the base for the players’ raft, whilst the Lumber Cards are slightly wavey lengths of card, marked with the sea on one side and wood on the other.

Set up is simple. The game’s box is turned upside down, placed in the centre of the table, and the lid to the box is placed on top, also upside down. The Raft Card is put on top of the lid, as are all five Rafters. Each player receives the Penalty Board and Treasure Chests of his colour. In two- and three-player games, each player will be given Penalty Boards and Treasure Chests of multiple colours.

The aim of Rafter Five is to build as big a raft as possible, whilst loading it up with treasure, without it collapsing. When it does collapse, the player who caused the collapse receives all of the Treasure Chests tipped into the sea. He keeps his own Treasure Chests to place again, but Treasure Chests belonging to the other players must be put onto his Penalty Board. If a player accrues five Treasure Chests belonging to other players on his Penalty Board, the game ends, and he is the loser, whilst everyone else wins! The game also ends when there are no more Lumber cards to place or all of the players have put their Treasure Chests on the raft. In either case, the player with the most Treasure Chests belonging to other players on his Penalty Board is the loser and everyone else wins.

On his turn, a player does three things. He picks up a single Rafter from the raft and then a Lumber Card. He must then place the Lumber Card on the raft and the Rafter on top of that. The Lumber Card must be placed so that part of it is on top of another Lumber Card on the raft (except on the first turn, when a player is free to place the Lumber card how he wants). Lastly, he put one of his Treasure Chests anywhere on the Lumber Card he just placed.

Rafter Five is as simple as that, but the longer a game goes on and the more that Lumber Cards and Treasure Cards are added, the more precarious the splay of the Lumber cards that make up the poorly constructed raft grows. The Rafters are the balancing factor, acting as a counterweight to lengths of Lumber Card hanging over the edge of the raft with their Treasure Chests perched precariously on their lengths. Picking the right one can the key to a tense, but safe turn, but pick the wrong one and everything goes tumbling into the sea! Placing a Treasure Chest where it is more likely to tip into the sea, such as at the end of a Lumber Card, dangling over the edge, is a legitimate move, but this highlights the key aspect to Rafter Five. Most dexterity games are about placing one thing or removing one thing to a stack. Rafter Five is about placing three—the Rafter, the Lumber Card, and the Treasure Chest!

Physically, Rafter Five is very nicely presented and packaged. The components are of good quality and the Rafter pieces are nice and sturdy in the hand, and ever so cute! The simplicity of the game means that the rules are easy to read and grasp.

Rafter Five does include a solo-mode, but it is more of a stacking puzzle than a game, so consequently less interesting. That said, the game plays well at whatever player count, with four or five being about right, and it is suited to play by the family, being very easy to teach and learn. Rafter Five is a great filler game, easy to learn, quick to play, but full of tension that grows and grows as more Lumber Cards are added to the raft.

"Not all journeys begin on roads. Some start on broomsticks, others in dreams, or through a mirror no one else sees."

 - From the Journal of Larina Nix

A few days back, I talked about the Tavern as the iconic adventuring location, maybe as famous as the dungeon itself. But that’s only one, very early stop on the Journey. Capital J.

When I think of the Journey for characters, I can’t help but go full myth-nerd and drift back to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces and the whole Hero’s Journey structure. That moment of Departure, when the character leaves the known world behind and enters the realm of magic, danger, and transformation? That’s the real start of the story. Not the tavern. Not the rumors. Not the first goblin in a dark hallway. But that choice, that first real step.

Now, for most D&D-style characters, that might be heading off with sword and/or spellbook, saying goodbye to the family farm, or signing on for a job in a shady city.

But for witches? It’s a little different.

Their journeys often begin in the unknown. It’s not “go out and find magic.” It’s “magic came calling, and now you’re part of it whether you like it or not.” It starts when the moon speaks. When the cat stares too long. When you dream of fire and wake with cinders in your hair. When you start to understand what the crows are saying.

Larina’s journey didn’t begin on a trail or caravan road. It began the moment she heard the voice of the Goddess, when she could see ghosts, and when she stepped behind her grandmother’s mirror and realized she could see her own reflection walking away.

That moment, the crossing of the first threshold, is crucial. And in gaming terms, it’s one of the most rewarding to roleplay, even if most of the time we skip right past it with a background paragraph.

But what if we didn’t?

What if we slowed down and let that Journey take shape in play? What if we saw the moment a young hedge witch received her first vision, or a would-be warlock stood at the edge of the Standing Stones, whispering a name they don’t remember learning?

Journeys matter. Not just because they get you from Level 1 to 20, but because they reveal who your character is, and what they’re willing to become.

And for witches, that journey never truly ends. It just spirals onward, like a sigil carved in bone, leading deeper into the mystery.

For witches I replace the circle of the Monomyth with the Spiral Dance.  

I'll come back to this more. 

Questions

When. Proud. Adventure.

When was my proudest moment in an adventure? So many, really. When my kids discovered the plot concocted by the demons to kill all the gods of the sun to invade the world. When they killed Strahd. When *I* killed Strahd nearly 30 years prior to that. When running Ghosts of Albion Blight and one group REALLY embraced their roles as the Protectors of Ériu. It's why I keep dong this!

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

 I hope everyone had a great Gen Con. Sadly, I was not there, but I heard it was fun. I also heard that Daggerheart had sold out of its print run and had no copies left by Saturday. That is pretty cool, really. It's also still the #1 selling PDF on DriveThruRPG, a spot it has owned since its release. 

I was on DriveThruRPG today looking to see if any of the new games I had heard about at Gen Con had been released yet. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did see something in my Personalized Suggestions; a bunch of new-to-me titles from Art of the Genre (the Folio people) featuring my favorite party girl rogues, Duchess and Candella. Most of these were for the FAST Core RPG System, which I know nearly nothing about. But there are a lot of titles featuring them. 

I remembered I covered a lot of the Folio Black Label books when I did my feature on Duchess and Candella, and there were some new ones (again, new-to-me) that I had not seen. I grabbed some more of the Folio adventures featuring them and one of the FAST Core D\&C books, which I might review later, but I'd like to get the core rules first. 

I do have the core rules for Daggerheart.

While I tend to gravitate towards witches, spellcasters, and the odd paladin type, I do love these two. Again, I imagine them as two party girls who love a good time and don't mind getting into a little bit of trouble if it means they are going to get some gold out of it. Art of the Genre has stats and extensive backgrounds for them both in The Storyteller's Arcana. It works, I can't disagree with them really other than I see them more as thieves and rogues rather than fighter-types. But hey, they have given these characters a lot more thought than I have. Still, for Daggerheart, I think I want to keep them as thief-types. Thankfully, there are two different Rogue "subclasses" I can try, the Nightwalker and the Syndicate.

Duchess

Level 2
Class & Subclass: Rogue (Nightwalker)
Ancestry & Heritage: Highborne Human
Pronouns: She/Her

Agility: 1
Strength: -1
Finesse: 2
Instinct: 0
Presence: 1
Knowledge: 0

Evasion: 12
Armor: 3

HP: 5
Minor Damage: 8 Major Damage: 15
Stress: 6

Hope: 2

Weapons: Longsword, Agility Melee, 1d8+3
Dagger. Finesse, Melee, d8+1 phy

Armor: Leather 6/13 +3

Experience
I will live the life owed to me +2 (when dealing with people of higher social class or money)
Candella is my sister in crime +2 (when dealing with rolls that can aid Candella)
So much gold and it will be mine +2 (when trying to steal or acquire wealth)

Class Features
Cloaked, Sneak Attack, Shadow Stepper, Believable Lie

Candella

Level 2
Class & Subclass: Rogue (Syndicate)
Ancestry & Heritage: Slyborne Human
Pronouns: She/Her

Agility: 2
Strength: 2
Finesse: 2
Instinct: 0
Presence: -1
Knowledge: 0

Evasion: 12
Armor: 3

HP: 5
Minor Damage: 8 Major Damage: 15
Stress: 6

Hope: 2

Weapons: Shortsword, Agility Melee, 1d8+3
Dagger. Finesse, Melee, d8+1 phy
Paired (Tier 1) +2 to primary weapon damage to targets in Melee Range.

Armor: Leather 6/13 +3

Experience
Life is a game, and I plan to cheat +2 (when any rolls are considered cheating)
Duchess is my sister in crime +2 (when dealing with rolls that can aid Duchess)
Gold! Wine! Adventure! +2 (when trying to steal or acquire wealth, or a good time.)

Class Features
Cloaked, Sneak Attack, Well-Connected, Enrapture

--

The great thing about Daggerheart is how you can create characters that really support each other and have that baked into the rules and rolls. 

Love how these two came out!

Witchcraft Wednesday Edition

In most games, when the party gathers for the first time, there's a fairly straightforward motive: treasure, fame, glory, revenge. Maybe they’re trying to save their village. Maybe they just need to pay off a bar tab. Whatever the case, the classic adventurer is easy to motivate. Dangle gold or justice in front of them, and they’ll go down into the dungeon willingly.

But witches and warlocks?

Their motives tend to be… different.

“She didn’t go into the ruins for gold. She went looking for the name she saw in her dreams.”

 - page, recovered from the bog near Meirath’s Hollow

Witches often aren’t chasing wealth. They might live in crumbling cottages or vine-covered towers filled with tea, bones, and books. They have what they need. Their magic doesn’t come from loot, it comes from knowing. From power earned through pacts, practices, and pain.

When a witch goes on a journey, it’s usually because something has shifted in the world:

• The stars have changed their alignment.
• A long-forgotten spirit has begun to whisper again.
• A charm buried under a tree has broken.
• A name has been spoken that should not have been known.

Their motive isn’t external. It’s internal, symbolic, spiritual. Sometimes it’s not even clear to them at first. But they feel it. A pull. A path. The wind shifts through the birches in a different way, and suddenly she knows it’s time to move.

Warlocks, too, have unique motives, but theirs are often tied to obligation.

 Their power comes at a cost, after all. And sometimes that cost is paid in quests, souls, or favors. Maybe they heard their patron whisper something in their sleep. Maybe they found a rune etched into the frost on their window and knew they had to follow it. Or maybe they have no choice. Maybe the pact has come due.

That’s the thing about occult characters in fantasy RPGs: their motives aren’t lesser or greater than the standard adventurer’s, they’re just deeper. More tangled in the weird threads of fate and prophecy and intuition. Sometimes they’ll ride alongside the party for gold and steel and good company, but eventually, something will pull them off the path. And that’s when the story really begins.

So next time a witch joins your adventuring party, ask her why she’s there.

 If she tells you it’s for gold, she’s lying.

 She already knows something’s coming.

 She just doesn’t want to be the only one standing when it arrives.

Questions

How. Optimistic. Accessory.

Hmm. How does a particular accessory keep you optimistic? 

As I mentioned yesterday, I often take the point of view of the characters. A while back, I got some art done of Larina. I don't remember which one it was, but around her waist she wore chain and it was threaded with dragon teeth. I had asked for a dragon tooth charm, and that is what I got back. I like to trust the artists with their vision, and this was a good choice. In my games from that point, it was a "charm" she wore to provide protection. While mechanically it added to her saving throws, I said it was something that gave her hope. She could collect all these dragon teeth and know she helped defeat those monsters, so whatever challenge was next, she could handle. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

 "Before the first cleric lifted a holy symbol, before the first wizard penned a scroll, they were already here, gathering in moonlight."

- From the Journal of Larina Nix

A lot of what goes into the assumptions of D&D, or really any fantasy RPG, is that there were once glorious empires (or terrible ones), long before the current age. Civilizations rose, ruled, and collapsed. Names were lost. Gods were forgotten. Ruins now dot the land like scars on old skin. And the heroes of today walk through the bones of that forgotten world, looting what little wisdom and gold remains.

It’s a familiar formula. And it works. Even the Greeks did it with the Egyptians, and that’s where some of the myth of Atlantis comes from, trying to make sense of a culture already ancient when theirs was young.

We build that same idea into our games.

Why does this dungeon have magic no wizard understands?  Why is this sword sealed behind twelve runes in a language no one speaks?  Why are there pyramids on this island when no one remembers building them?

Because something came before.

 And whatever it was, it was older, deeper, and probably stranger.

But for me, “Ancient” doesn’t always mean “a thousand years ago.” Sometimes it means before memory. Before civilization. Before the gods got organized.

When Larina speaks of “they,” she means the ones who practiced the old ways before spells had names and magic had schools. The ones who made offerings in stone circles, who brewed potions by feel, who danced naked in the moonlight, not because it was part of a ritual, but because that was the ritual.

They didn’t even call themselves witches. They didn’t call themselves anything. They were simply those who knew.

And sometimes… still do.

That’s one of the things I love about Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age.

 It flips the paradigm. The world isn’t ancient yet, but you’re playing in the mythic past that future bards will whisper about. You are the ancients, carving out the foundations of legend. The ruined towers in your 5e game? Yeah, maybe your hero built one of those. Or destroyed it. Or died there.

There’s a strange beauty to playing in the age before the age. You’re not unearthing forgotten relics, you’re making them.

And for witches, who remember too much and live too long, every new age is just another layer of dust on a story that began long before gods had names.

Questions

How. Contemplative. Character.

I often will contemplate what a bit of writing means from the point of view of the characters, or a specific character. With the quote above, I often view my witch writing from the point of view of the witches in the game. Like Larina or Emse or Amaranth. When doing my Forgotten Realms reviews I'll often take the point of view of the characters in that. Moria, Jaromir, or Sinéad.

It helps me get immersed in what the world looks like to those in it.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

Much like the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha, The Companions of Arthur is a curated platform for user-made content, but for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon. It enables creators to sell their own original content for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. This can be original scenarios, background material, alternate Arthurian settings, and more, but none of this content should be considered to be ‘canon’, but rather fall under ‘Your Pendragon Will Vary’. This means that there is still scope for the authors to create interesting and useful content that others can bring to their Pendragon campaigns.

—oOo—
What is the Nature of the Quest?The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline is a scenario for use with Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It is primarily designed to be played using its four pre-generated Player Characters.

It is inspired by the traditional folksong, Sir Cawline.

It is a full colour, forty-eight page, 74.89 MB PDF.

The layout is tidy, though it does need a slight edit.
Where is the Quest Set?The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline is a scenario for Pendragon, Sixth Edition. It can be set in any year, ideally after 515 CE, at Pentecost (or Whitsun), in late May. Due to the traditional activities its events celebrate, it should also ideally take place near Cooper’s Hill, at Brockworth near Gloucester, England.
Who should go on this Quest?
As written, the four pre-generated Player Characters should be used to play The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline, one of whom is Sir Cauline of the title. He can be roleplayed if there is only one player, but others include a squire, a household knight, and an ex-knight, now friar.

If the scenario is played in more traditional fashion, there is no limit upon the type of Player-knight that can be played. Knights with a strong Spiritual Trait, the skills of Religion (Christian), Religion (Pagan), and Folklore will have an advantage in certain situations. Skills associated with courtship will also be very useful for any Player-knight involved in the romance at the heart of the scenario.

What does the Quest require?
The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline requires the Pendragon, Sixth Edition Core Rulebook and the Pendragon: Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Where will the Quest take the Knights?
In The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline, the Player-knights travel to Aldric castle, home to King Aleric and Queen Gwendoline, as well as their daughter, the Lady Christabelle, in order to celebrate Pentecost. There are opportunities to worship, feast, and enjoy the peasant activities. Any Player Character who is not a knight may even join in, including even a cheese-rolling contest! However, Sir Cauline is soon not be seen, taken to his bed in deep melancholy as the Lady Christabelle is the subject of his deep adoration. This requires some directed roleplaying upon the part of Sir Cauline’s player, but he should soon perk up when the Lady Christabelle suggests some deeds of arms to prove himself worthy. This is to face the Eldrige Knight on Eldrige Hill and return with the thorn atop the hill. If he is successful, the romance between the Lady Christabelle and Sir Cawline begins to blossom, but faces several hurdles in the coming days. This includes revenge, treachery, and promises tested, plus there is scope to extend the scenario and add labours of love as well.
The scenario is very nicely detailed and shows how to play out a romance and its difficulties. The primary problem is that this means that it focuses upon Sir Cawline and his relationship with the Lady Christabelle, so that the other Player Characters are not as intrinsic to the plot and despite using pre-generated Player Characters, it does not make The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline a good demonstration scenario and it is certainly too long to be run as a convention scenario. This is also means that as strictly written, the scenario is not particularly suitable to be run as a campaign.
However, the scenario could be run as part of campaign without any of the pre-generated Player Characters if a Player-knight has developed an Adoration for an NPC whom he is not quite of sufficient station to marry, thus having to prove himself worthy of the NPC’s affection. In this way, The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline could be run to place a particular Player-knight in the spotlight or as an adventure separate to the main campaign with even just the one Player-knight involved.
Should the Knights ride out on this Quest?The Love and Labours of Sir Cauline is an engagingly detailed scenario that gives time for ardor to be proven and a romance to develop as told in the folksong that inspired it. However, as written its set-up is quite restraining given its primary focus upon the one Player-knight, limiting its usefulness. With some adjustments upon the part of the Game Master this need not be the case and it could prove to be a worthy addition to a campaign.

 Monstrous Monday Edition

It’s a quiet night in the tavern (for yesterday!)

The fire has burned low. The regulars have stumbled home. The bard’s stopped playing and is asleep in the stables. Just you, your companions, the dregs of your drinks, and a few moments of rare peace.

Then the door creaks open and a message arrives.

Not a letter. Not a scroll. Not a pigeon with a satchel. 

A thing, bone-thin, cloaked in rags that hang like wet skin, with eyes like coins held too long in the mouth. It doesn’t speak. It simply places something on the table and turns to leave.

What did it leave behind?

That’s the start of the adventure I’m working on.

See, I’ve always loved the idea that not all messengers are human, or even alive. Some messages come from older places, places where ink isn’t used and paper doesn’t burn. Where secrets aren’t written so much as bound. And sometimes, the thing carrying the message doesn’t even understand it. It’s just a vessel. A warning. A test.

This whole adventure started with that moment:

 A creature. A message. A choice.

What do you do when something too old to name brings you a letter with your name on it?

What if the wax seal bears a symbol you saw once in a dream you forgot?

What if the ink moves when no one’s looking?

What if you break the seal and something breaks back?

The message in this case? It’s not a quest hook. Not exactly.

It’s a summons.

Something ancient remembers you.

And it’s time to remember it back.

That’s the thread I’m pulling on right now, something I’m weaving into the adventure that begins at the most clichéd tavern I could dream up. I want the players to laugh at the trope… until it gets quiet… and the thing at the door isn’t part of the trope anymore.

It’s part of the world.

And now, so are they.

Questions

When. Grateful. Genre.

When was I grateful for a particular genre? Hmm. I think that would have to be when I approached Christopher Golden about collaborating on a Buffy adventure for Eden Studios, and he instead asked me if I knew Victorian/Gothic horror. I stepped up and said I was practically an expert! I wasn't, I was just an enthusiastic fan, but it worked and that is one of the reasons why we all have Ghosts of Albion now.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

Much like the Jonstown Compendium for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and The Companions of Arthur for material set in Greg Stafford’s masterpiece of Arthurian legend and romance, Pendragon, the Miskatonic Repository for Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition is a curated platform for user-made content. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

—oOo—
Name: The HaunterPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Joshua S. Vallejo

Setting: Jazz Age BaltimoreProduct: Outline
What You Get: Twenty-seven page, 2.94 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: What if the Investigators failed both ‘The Haunting’ and ‘Of Wrath and Blood’?Plot Hook: Walter J. Corbitt lives!Plot Support: Staging advice, six NPCs, sixteen handouts, one map, six Mythos artefacts, thirteen Mythos & occult tomes, & four Mythos entitiesProduction Values: Plain
Pros# Sequel to a sequel, Of Wrath and Blood, sequel to the classic, ‘The Haunting’# Turns the ‘The Haunting’ into a trilogy# One half-investigation, one half-bloody battle# Atychiphobia# Cloacaphobia# Coimetrophobia
Cons# Sequel to a sequel, Of Wrath and Blood, sequel to the classic, ‘The Haunting’# Turns the ‘The Haunting’ into a trilogy
# Really, really encourages the Investigators to arm up for ghouls
Conclusion# Absolutely only necessary of the Investigators failed both ‘The Haunting’ and ‘Of Wrath and Blood’# Assault on the Chapel of Contemplation

 I’ve been working on an adventure for a little while now, off and on, between other projects, late at night when inspiration strikes and I let myself go back to being just a DM for a while.

And yes, I’m going to start it in a tavern.

 Not a mysterious tower. Not a burning village. Not a cosmic rift in the sky.

 A tavern. 

(ok, to be fair, all those other things are going to show up as well.)

And not just any tavern.

 The most clichéd, wood-paneled, hearth-warmed, ale-soaked, smoke-filled tavern you’ve ever seen. There’s a fire in the hearth, a surly dwarf in the corner, a nervous man with a hood who keeps checking the door, and a barmaid named Tilly who’s much more than she seems.

Why? Because I love it.

We’ve spent the last few decades trying to subvert the tropes, and that’s good; it keeps things fresh. But sometimes, I just want to embrace the classic feel. I want it to smell like spilled beer and pipe smoke and wet cloaks. I want the players to know the adventure is starting the moment they walk through that door.

This adventure I’m writing is a bit of an homage. It draws from the games I played in high school and college, when our graph paper was full of hastily drawn rooms and our taverns were, honestly, just ways to get the party together before we threw owlbears or goblins at them. But those games mattered. And I want to recapture that feeling. Not just nostalgia, but the invitation that those early games always offered:

You are here. The world is waiting. What will you do next?

Writing this for others, though, is a whole different challenge. I’ve written plenty of adventures for my own groups, messy, notes-in-the-margins kind of things. But polishing it up for other DMs? That’s a skill I’m re-learning.

And I still need a name for the tavern itself. Something that feels like it could exist in any D&D world, just off a dirt road outside of town. The kind of place travelers mutter about and locals warn you not to drink the green stuff.

No idea what the name is yet, but I’ll figure it out.

For now, the fire’s warm, the mugs are full, and someone just walked through the door who shouldn’t be here.

Got a good name for me?

Questions

Who. Envious. Accessory. 

Back in the day, I was always envious of the guys who had lead minis AND could do a good job of painting them. Back then (1980s) gaming dollars were tight and lead minis were rare and an expense I could never justify. 

Today I am drowning in minis. Plastic minis are so much cheaper and I can get them pre-painted, printed in color, hire people to pain them, have my wife paint them (something she loves to do), or most recently, paint them myself. I am rather terrible at it to be honest, but looking to my left and my two most recent ones I can say I am getting better. Better than I ever thought I would be.

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

It was always feared that avian influenza—or bird flu—would be the one to get us. Despite numerous outbreaks over the past few decades, the world has been lucky. No worldwide bird flu pandemic. Instead, it was a coronavirus—COVID-19—that did for us, killing millions between 2019 and 2022, and forcing the world into a series of lockdowns that brought societies to a halt. In the world of Chew, it was bird flu that killed one hundred millions, including twenty-three million in the USA. In response the US government banned chicken and other poultry and like the War on Terror declared war on terrorism and sponsors of terrorism, declared war on all fowl. It poured billions of dollars into the funding of both the U.S. Food and Drug Agency (FDA) and the U.S. Dairy and Agriculture Administration (USDA), weaponizing both of them, and taking the FDA’s Special Crimes Division with investigating all food-related crimes, especially those connected to the farming, smuggling, and selling of chicken. Narcotics are not so much of a problem in the world of Chew, when there is more money to be made from dealing in chicken and terrorists with other issues will farm and smuggle them to fund their activities. Tony Chu, former Philadelphia police detective, is an agent for the FDA, not just a highly dedicated agent, but also a ‘cibopath’, which means he psychically reads the history of anything he bites—where it has been, who touched it, what is in it, and so on. It helps him with his investigations, but it also means that eating is not something he and others with his gift can enjoy. Chew is a sixty-issue comic published by Image Comics between 2009 and 2016 and the winner of numerous comic book awards during its run.

Chew: The Roleplaying Game, ‘A Foodie Crime Drama Roleplaying’, is the roleplaying adaptation published by Imagining Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign. It is a police procedural in which the core concept, best described as ‘Poultry Prohibition’, so think Elliot Ness, but with chickens, is the least weird thing about it. There is also cannibal crime, gourmet grievances, DNA dereliction, cockfighting capers, and a whole lot more. And when that is not enough, there is office politics, inter-agency rivalries, and the complicated home lives of the agents to deal with. Chew: The Roleplaying Game is a ‘Forged in the dark’ roleplaying game, meaning that it uses the rules first seen in Blades in the Dark and is a narrative roleplaying game with an emphasis on investigation. Its play is intended to be built around a ‘Conspiracy Board’, complete with different coloured sticky notes, connected, of course, by string, which the players and their characters can follow and amend to track their current case, combined with the use of Progress Clocks to track time, challenges, danger, and more.

The Player Characters are built around a set of Playbooks. These are ‘The Expert’, ‘The Hotshot’, ‘The Inspector’, ‘The Lowlife’, ‘The Mascot’, ‘The Prodigy’, ‘The Veteran’, and ‘The Wronged’. These are all derived from the comic book series. A Player Character has four attributes. These are Charm, Guts, Instinct, and Training, and they are rated between one and three. He also has three ‘Approaches’, traits representing physical or personality traits. These are all food-related. For example, ‘100% Raw’ means that the Player Character cannot tell a lie, whilst ‘Sunny Side Up’ means that you are always, always positive about life. These will affect the ‘Position’ and ‘Effect’ of any action a Player Character takes. Then there is the Player Character’s Quirk, his special power, like Tony Chu’s cibopathy. Suggestions include ‘USDAnimal’, a specially-trained cybernetic animal assigned to partner a USA special agent and serve as a Wi-Fi hotspot, being an actual cyborg, being a celebrity of some kind, having undergone some special training, and so on. Some are detailed, but players are allowed to create and name their own, with a table being provided for this. Perks represent a Player Character’s skills and are provided by the Playbook, whilst his Appetite Dice, refreshed at the start of each new case, can be spent to improve the action roll of any Player Character, to make a Resistance roll, to propose a flashback, or to grab an unscheduled break. Trouble will bring the Player Character intermittent difficulties, suggested categories including Debt, Family, Secret, Rivalry, Romance, and Vice. Over the long term, a Player Character can overcome his Trouble and ‘Stick a Fork in it’, but will then acquire a new Trouble. A Trouble has three dice of its own, which can be spent to reroll a failed Action roll, but means he automatically acquires a Condition and a worse Position.

Creating a Player Character involves choosing three Approaches, a Playbook, two Perks from the Playbook, detailing the Playbook’s Gear, and picking a Job. Three Attribute points are assigned in addition to the one provided by the Playbook. A Quirk is selected and lastly, a look is defined for the Player Character. Tables of Approaches and Quirks are provided that the player can choose from or roll on.

Our sample Player Character is Zillah Murgia, a scientist renowned for her study of the industrial properties of the hyperbolic paraboloid in age of food terrorism. Her brilliance is offset by an unpleasant manner instilled in her by an equally bitter, if not more so, mother, who to this day, claims that her daughter will amount to nothing, and a know-it-all attitude. At the age of fifty-four, Zillah still lives at home with her mother after a failed marriage, and to keep her mother happy, still wears what her mother suggests and gets her hair cut the same way. This does nor make her mother happy. After graduating from Harvard, Zillah attended graduate school. Unfortunately, her arrogance and unpleasantness antagonised the faculty and they attempted to persuade her to leave, which only made her more bitter and feeling further betrayed. Zillah typically found that a bowl of soup seemed to change the mind of whatever member of the faculty was sent to inform her and if that did not quite work, the hint afterwards that Zillah would go to H.R. seemed to solve the problem for her. After getting her PH.D., Zillah was asked to leave Harvard, but was quietly given a letter of recommendation, a pattern that has seen her bounce from one Ivy League college after another. Currently, she is permanent sabbatical from Dartmouth College where she has tenure and is working for the FDA to do something other spend more time with her mother.

Zillah Murgia
PLAYBOOK: The Expert
JOB: FDA Egghead

ATTRIBUTES
Charm 0 Guts 1 Instinct 1 Training 2

APPROACHES
Lemonhead – Cynical and leaves a sour taste in people’s mouths
Egg Head – Tried and True Nerd
Bitter – Holds a grudge

PERKS
Knowledge Bomb
Think Tank

QUIRKS
Donepulmentar – Onlookers lust after you when you slurp soup

GEAR
Tools of the Trade, A Goddamn PH.D., Portable Lab, Sat-Link, Tenure

LOOK
How your mother would dress as a Federal Agent

Mechanically, to have his character undertake an action or attempt to gather information, a player rolls a number of dice equal to the appropriate attribute, plus any bonus dice from special action or perks. The Gourmet Master sets the Position and Effect—abbreviated to ‘PEE’—for the Action Roll. The Position represents the Threat Level, ranging from zero and ‘No Risk’ to three and ‘Nuts’, and determines how many consequences a Player Character will suffer if the roll is failed. Whereas, the Effect level is the reward, ranging from zero or ‘None’ to three and ‘Great’. The Effect can be narrative or it can advance a Progress Clock. Only the highest result is counted. A roll of six is a success, a roll of four or five is a mixed result or a result with Consequences, and a roll of one, two, or three is a bad outcome. A critical roll is made if more than a single six is rolled, whilst a fumble occurs on a roll of one when the Position is ‘Nuts’. Consequences can result in complications, a worse position, lost opportunity, and/or Conditions. There are four Conditions and they apply directly to a Player Character’s Attributes. These will make a Player Character’s Position for an Action Roll worse and if a Player Characters all four, he suffers a Knock Out. Consequences can be withstood by making a Resistance Roll, which requires the expenditure of Appetite Dice, and if they are all used up, a Player Character will also suffer a Knock Out and Burnout, meaning he will also permanently lose one of his Appetite Die.

All of this is player-facing, that is, the players make the rolls rather the Gourmet Master. This applies to combat too, the NPCs acting as consequence of the rolls and decisions made by the players, and then the players making Action or Resistance in response. The players are encouraged to add to the narrative as much as the Gourmet Master—and use as much food-based terminology as they can when doing so, and whilst the rules look more complex than they actually are, they are quite straightforward. It also helps that the book includes plenty of examples, including a thirty-four page example of play.

Play and investigation of a Case is structured into three phases. These consist of ‘Off Duty’, where the Player Characters’ can be explored away from an active case or their jobs; ‘Investigation’ beginning with a briefing and then continuing with the search for the case’s three key details in an attempt to crack the case; and the ‘Action Phase’ where the perpetrators are caught or identified. The three phases are followed by a ‘Debriefing’, which can be both in game and out.

For the Gourmet Master there is a breakdown of a Case File and how to create one, backed up with a table of crime names and tables to generate random crimes, as well as advice on handling and resolving the investigation, handling conspiracies, unscheduled breaks, and more. All covering the game play’s core phases. The background covers both the FDA and USDA as employers of the Player Characters, and advice on how to portray their boss. Numerous factions are detailed and categorised according to the threat they pose to the Player Characters, from Tier I and limited influence to Tier V and possessing global influence. For example, a Tier I threat might be the Crime Alley Ramblers and the Philly Goths, whilst an Amazon Necromantic Death Cult and the Chicken Colonels are Tier II. All of these factions are nicely detailed, with their typical looks, possible Clocks, assets, notable NPCs, allies and enemies, and so on. Some eighty or so factions are detailed in this fashion. Various places of interest, again drawn from the comic book, are also detailed, including their first appearance, locations, notable details and reasons to go there, possible NPCs and scenes, and these together with the earlier descriptions of the main characters from the comic book and the multiple factions, the Chew: The Roleplaying Game serves as a decent sourcebook for the comic book.

Rounding out the Chew: The Roleplaying Game are two scenarios. This is in addition to a couple of case file descriptions slotted earlier into the book which could be adapted for play by the Gourmet Master. The first scenario is ‘Over an Open Flame’ by Banana Chan’ in which the Player Characters have to solve the kidnapping of reality television chefs to make them cook over an open volcano whilst in Bridgett Jefferies’ ‘Thigh Man, Thigh Man’, the Player Characters have to identify and track down the mysterious prankster who has been breaking into the homes of FDA agents and broadcasting from there. This offers the opportunity for the Gourmet Master to play lots of tricks and pranks on the Player Characters, increasingly frustrating them. The Player Characters are ‘Rogue Agents’, recognising something of the prankster’s escapades and in investigating and potentially capturing him, perhaps proving themselves to be FDA agents once again. Both scenarios are entertaining, both are spiced with food puns aplenty, and both coming with plenty of cooking tips, as the advice for Gourmet Master is called.

Physically, Chew: The Roleplaying Game is a frenzy of vibrant colour and action, liberally illustrated with artwork from the comic book, alongside what is actually quite a lot of text. In places it does feel dense and lean towards being overwritten, the numerous examples and the extended example of play very much serve to counter this. What this means is that Chew: The Roleplaying Game is actually a lot simpler than it first looks.

Chicken is kind of an everyman kind of food, a meat whose flavour and texture lends itself to a multitude of ingredients, herbs, and recipes, giving a great flexibility, whereas Chew: The Roleplaying Game is very much not that. It is specifically designed to handle the weird zaniness and wacky action depicted in the comic, a world of taco terrorism, food fears given form, alien invasive plants, cannibal crime, but definitely, definitely not vampires. Which means unlike the ubiquity of chicken, it is not a roleplaying game that is going to appeal to everyone and it definitely pays to have read the comics. Of course, fans of the comic will definitely want to get their teeth into Chew: The Roleplaying Game, and they will find generous servings of everything they enjoyed about Chew.

Based on the classic. 

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—
Fragments of Fear: The Second Cthulhu Companion was published in 1985. It was the second supplement for Call of Cthulhu, a roleplaying game which in its forty-year history has had relatively few supplements compared to the number of campaigns and scenario anthologies. Following on from its forebear, Cthulhu Companion – Ghastly adventures & Erudite Lore, which was published in 1983, it brings together a collection of essays and scenarios, some of which are drawn from the pages of Different Worlds, providing the Keeper with source material and extra scenarios, all set within the classic period of the Jazz Age. In comparison to the Cthulhu Companion, this second volume is noticeably slimmer, being forty-eight pages in length whereas the Cthulhu Companion is sixty-four pages.
Behind its gripping cover, Fragments of Fear opens with what almost feels like an editorial from Sandy Petersen. It is interesting to note that that the planned revision for Investigator creation for Call of Cthulhu, Second Edition had not been adopted since it was time consuming and spread an Investigator’s skill points too thinly. He added some errata from the Cthulhu Companion, but in particular, noted that as of time of writing (June, 1985), Call of Cthulhu was continuing to grow and prosper. By this time, Chaosium, Inc. had published nine books for the line and various licensees had published another six. That included two solo adventures, Alone Against the Wendigo (since republished as Alone Against the Frost) and Alone Against the Dark, and three campaigns, Shadows of Yog-Sothoth, Masks of Nyarlathotep, and The Fungi from Yuggoth. Apart from the Cthulhu Companion, the rest were scenario anthologies, as were those from the licensees.
In terms of content, the bulk of Fragments of Fear is written by Sandy Petersen. The actual gaming content begins with ‘Call of Cthulhu Questions Answered’, the equivalent of an F.A.Q. by Sandy Petersen. This does what it says, answering and explaining three different aspects of the rules that require further clarification. They consist of “Why does it take so long to read a Cthulhu Mythos book?”, “How Do I Learn a Language in Call of Cthulhu?”, and “Why Can’t My Investigator Get ‘Used-To’ Seeing Common Types of Monsters?”. These look very familiar, having been asked and answered multiple times over the forty-year history of Call of Cthulhu, most notably in the highly regarded The Keeper’s Companion Vol. 1. Familiarity though, does not negate the usefulness of the questions or the answers, but rather highlighting their relative complexity compared to the rest of the rules.
‘Mythos Comparative SIZes’ provides the weight equivalency in pounds and tones from SIZ 1 to SIZ 330, so if the Keeper wants to know how much Great Cthulhu weighs, it is roughly 950 tons! It complements another feature in Fragments of Fear and that is the ‘Size Comparisons’ foldout that appears in the centre of the book. Four pages long (plus a half page nearby), this shows how various entities of the Cthulhu Mythos, from Mighty Cthulhu, a Star-Spawn of Cthulhu, and Ithaqua to a Star Vampire, Gug, and in the background, a Large Dhole, compare in size to the average Human. The artwork is all done as silhouettes as per the cutout standees provided in the Call of Cthulhu core boxed set. The result though is both useful and silly, many of them of such behemothic size that actual SIZ does not matter.
Flavour and verisimilitude comes in the form of Sandy Petersen’s ‘Ritual Curses’. Whether an ‘Excommunication Ritual by Pope Clement VI’ or an ‘Ancient Egyptian Curse to Inflict Catalepsy or Death’, these are delightful inspiration for the Keeper and thoroughly deserve to be inflicted upon the Investigators in one form or another. It continues with ‘On the Ubiquity of Cthulhu’ by William Hamblin, which is itself a continuation of his translation [sic] of the Bulgarian scholar, Phileus P. Sadowsky’s ‘Further Notes on the Necronomicon’ from the Cthulhu Companion. It examines the linguistic appearance of Cthulhu in a variety of languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, and Sanskrit. Though short it lends itself to a linguistic underpinning of a global campaign against various cults dedicated to Cthulhu, especially in conjunction with the first article. Obviously, such a campaign would need a fair degree of effort, but together there two articles have potential.
Elsewhere, there is a map of Innsmouth, but perhaps the most useful inclusion in Fragments of Fear is ‘A Cthulhu Grimoire’, in which Sandy Petersen collates all of the spells from the nine supplements, campaigns, and anthologies so far then published by Chaosium. Some of these are very specific, such as Call the Beast from The Fungi from Yuggoth and Curse of the Stone from The Asylum & Other Tales, but there are many spells here that are regarded as classics of the roleplaying game, such as Cloud Memory, Consume Likeness, Flesh Ward, and Wither Limb. He also adds stats for numerous creatures and Mythos entities. First with ‘Lions and Tigers and Bears, etc.’, which adds a mix of big, dangerous, but mundane animals’, whilst ‘New Mythos Deities, Races, and Monsters’ gives stats and descriptions of entities including Bast, Doaloth, Glaaki and its servants, Insects from Shaggai, and Beings From Xiclotl, these entries making their first appearance here for Call of Cthulhu.
There are two scenarios in Fragments of Fear, one short, one long. The first, the uncredited ‘The Underground Menace’, originally appeared in Different Worlds Issue 19, runs to four pages and is set in northern Michigan, on the shores of Lake Superior. The area around the town of Winnemuck, has been beset by earthquakes, despite not being seismically active and the Investigators are hired to investigate. However, there is little investigation to really do, as even the townsfolk will reluctantly point out the likely cause, Bill Whittaker, who was run out of town a while back. With no other leads, the Investigators trek out into the deep woods and there confront him, making the awful discovery that he has transformed into a Ghoul and is about to summon something awful out of the woods in an effort to spread the influence of Cthulhu. Unfortunately, the only solution offered is a fight and that is against a very nasty opponent and the thing that he summoned. If the Investigators do not come armed for bear, they are going to find this a daunting encounter to survive. Perhaps the best part of this scenario is dealing with the scared townsfolk of Winnemuck, but overall, this is an underwhelming scenario that presents a tough challenge that the players and their Investigators are unlikely to be prepared for, and if they do survive, rewards the Investigators with some surprisingly high Sanity bonuses.
The second scenario is ‘Valley of the Four Shrines’. Written by Bob Heggie, at seventeen pages, it takes up the last third of the supplement. It is a rare scenario set in Africa outside of Egypt, taking place in the Belgian Congo. It begins with the discovery of a map and a few pages of a journal that falls out of a copy of Unausprechlichen Kulten in the Investigators’ possession. Both are written in German and describe a journey to a location identified as the ‘Valley of the Gods’, entered via the carved maw of a statue of Great Cthulhu. The scenario details the journey to this location via Cape Town in South Africa to the seaport of Banana, and from there up the Congo River to Leopoldville via various methods as travel along the river is blocked by multiple cataracts. Passing through several villages, the Investigators will reach the statue described in the journal and enter its maw. This leads into the valley of the title. The valley is infested with zombies, although they are magically constrained from certain paths and from entering the village at the head of the valley. The villagers fear and worship the zombies, which together with their awareness of the Mythos, means that they could be described as cultists. Yet they are not evil, but are in general, very happy with their lot and surprisingly benign in outlook.
Further exploration of the valley reveals several locations of note. One appears to float above the Lake of the Gods that dominates the valley. This is the very top of a Great Race city, one that collapsed millions of year before and now lies below the waters of the lake. Described as a floating temple, the only thing of note it contains is a member of the Great Race who has survived in stasis from since before the city’s destruction at the hands of the Flying Polyps, one of which lurks in the valley walls. It is possible, but very difficult, to communicate with this surviving member of the Great Race, and although the Investigators might gain its help against the Flying Polyp, what form this aid might take is left up to the Keeper’s imagination to determine. The other four are the shrines of the scenario’s title, in turn dedicated to Cthulhu, Cthugha, Hastur (or ‘He Who is Not to Be Named’), and an unknown Great Old One. These four are all identical offering a variety of strange effects and experiences and magical gewgaws that are best left untouched. Although it is very far obvious, destroying these shrines is the only way in the scenario to regain any lost Sanity.
‘Valley of the Four Shrines’ is problematic in many ways and fails to answer any questions that the Keeper and her players might have. The first of which is, “Why?” Apart from being set in the Belgian Congo and offering the opportunity for the Investigators to visit the remnants of a Great Race, why would the Keeper even run this scenario? The Investigators will only have an inkling of what might be found there, so why would they make the dangerous trek into the jungles of deepest Africa? The scenario certainly does not offer any suggestions and barring the possibility of aiding or hampering a coup d’état in a village the Investigators pass through, the scenario is completely devoid of any plot or story. It does not help that the author of the journal, Mannheim Dorffman, is left completely undescribed and that one person mentioned in that journal shares the surname with an NPC that the Investigators can meet, but no connection is made between the two. Thus, leaving the Keeper to wonder if there is something missing from the scenario or if the name is a pure coincidence.
The depiction of the inhabitants of various villages is mostly transactional and those outside the villages hostile, whilst beyond the dangers and details of journey up the Congo river, including an extensive list of encounters, the description of the Belgian Congo is non-existent. It would be a little rich to expect details of the terrible colonial history of the Belgian Congo, but there is nothing. There is no background, no history, no context, and it all feels like an overly ambitious, but poorly shot Saturday morning serial filmed on a backlot. ‘Valley of the Four Shrines’ is a terrible travelogue and an unremittingly uninteresting scenario.
Physically, Fragments of Fear is very well presented. The artwork is uniformly good, whilst the cartography is serviceable enough. In general, the supplement is well written and presented and an easy read.—oOo—
Fragments of Fear was reviewed three times following its release in 1985. The first was by Phil Frances in Open Box in White Dwarf Issue 75 (March, 1986). From the start, he was not positive, opening with, “Chaosium’s companion packs should be pretty familiar by now, and the company’s intention to publish bits of lore to fit in elsewhere is essentially an admirable one. The latest collection of oddities is the Second Cthulhu Companion, also known as Fragments of Fear, which unfortunately falls into most of the pits that its predecessor managed to avoid.” He continued by describing ‘Valley of the Four Shrines’ as “[T]he direst scenario for Call of Cthulhu I have ever seen”, before concluding that, “Overall, Fragments of Fear disappoints me, especially as it follows in the wake of Masks of Nyarlathotep, the best CoC campaign to date. The biggest weakness is the ‘Valley’ scenario; surely Chaosium has better works than this on file? It lowers the whole tone of the supplement and takes up so much space that the other items truly appear to be Fragments.” Nevertheless, he awarded it an overall score of seven out of ten.
The supplement was reviewed in ‘Game Reviews’ by Michael Szymanski in Different Worlds Issue 43 (July/August, 1986). He was more positive, stating that, “The greatest achievement of this companion has to be the Cthulhu Grimoire, which lists and describes all new spells that were created for the previous seven supplements for the game.”, which was, “[A]n excellent timesaving reference for those Keepers who wish to create their own scenarios.” He also described ‘Valley of Fear’ as “[A]n excellent adventure for experienced Investigators, and it will certainly make them work for their rewards.” Before awarding it three stars, Szymanski, finished by saying, “Overall, Fragments Of Fear is an excellent supplement; though some may argue over the inclusion of certain pieces, everything in it can be used in one form or another, either to enhance the game or to provide for smoother play.” and “The book was well thought out and put together in an orderly manner. Fragments Of Fear displays the brand of quality we’ve come to expect from Chaosium, and this supplement is a definite step forward for a very unique game.”
Guy Hail reviewed Fragments of Fear in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer Issue 79 (August/September, 1987). Although he complained that ‘A Cthulhu Grimoire’ was not complete, omitting one spell from Masks of Nyarlathotep, he commented that, “Aside from this slip the supplement is better than the supplement for the first edition. The Sadowsky material is extremely fanciful and has thankfully been kept to entertaining length.” and of the other content, he said, “ The other miscellany here is offbeat or potentially useful.” Hail was positive about ‘Valley of the Four Shrines’ suggesting that, “Keeper emphasizing the remoteness of the valley and harmlessness of its human inhabitants will stun the investigating party with the strangeness of the uninhabited city of the Great Race.” He concluded by saying that, “Chaosium has published a lightly flawed and reasonably priced supplement for the many feverish fans of Call of Cthulhu.”
—oOo—Ultimately, Fragments of Fear is always going to compared to the Cthulhu Companion, and unlike the Cthulhu Companion, little of the contents of Fragments of Fear would be collected into later editions of the Call of Cthulhu rules or subsequent supplements. In fact, only the new Mythos entities from ‘New Mythos Deities, Races, and Monsters’ would appear in subsequent editions of the roleplaying game, and it was not until the publication of the Call of Cthulhu Classic box set that celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Call of Cthulhu that it would be reprinted. What this indicates is both how highly the Cthulhu Companion is regarded, then and now, and how poorly Fragments of Fear is regarded in comparison, then and now. When this was published in 1985, it was highly anticipated like any scenario for Call of Cthulhu, but even in 1985, reading Fragments of Fear was disappointing.
Had it not been republished as part of the Call of Cthulhu Classic box set, the honest truth is that Fragments of Fear might have remained a forgotten supplement. There is no denying the then usefulness of some of the content in the supplement when it was originally published, but really there is there is nothing in its pages that really stands out as being worthy of a Keeper’s attention, either today or in 1985. What does stand out is just how underwhelmingly dissatisfying Fragments of Fear: The Second Cthulhu Companion very much was and is.
—oOo—
An unboxing of Fragments of Fear: The Second Cthulhu Companion can be found here.

Today's prompt is, well, Prompt.

Not every adventure begins with a map and a reward poster.

Sometimes, the adventure starts with a whisper you didn’t expect to hear. A shadow in the same place every night. A child saying something they shouldn’t know. The sound of something scratching inside the walls, but there are no mice, and the walls aren’t hollow.

These are the kinds of prompts I love best. The ones that feel like a dare from the world.

Sure, a good old-fashioned “Help us, adventurers!” hook is tried and true, and it works well. But what keeps me coming back, what really gets me writing, is when the prompt is uncanny. Subtle. Occult even. Note I will often use "occult" here in the original sense of "hidden" or "unknown."

It’s the dream you can’t shake.  It’s the name you don’t remember learning but now can’t forget.  It’s the cracked mirror in the old inn that only reflects one of the party members, and no one else.

These are the prompts that get the witch involved. The ones that pull the warlock out of their tower. That make the players sit forward in their chairs.

The best part? You can drop these kinds of prompts anywhere.

 The party’s resting in a sleepy village? One of the locals offers them tea and casually mentions that no one’s seen the moon in three nights. 

 They’re walking through a forest? A dead bird falls from the sky, but its body is still warm. Or maybe it is frozen solid. 

 They open a letter meant for someone else. There’s no writing inside, just a sigil, drawn in blood, that starts to glow faintly when it rains.

You don’t have to explain it right away. In fact, please don’t. Let it linger. Let it get under their skin, worm its way into their brains. Let the players dig. Let them argue over what it means. If they follow down the wrong path, let them go.

The Prompt is not the Plot. The Prompt is the door.

Let them decide whether to knock, kick it down, or walk away.

But if they walk away… it might follow.

Questions

Let's roll again!

Who, Excited, Art. "Who's art am I most excited to see in a book?"

I think it would have to have been Clyde Caldwell back in the day, or Larry Elmore. They defined the "old-school" look for me. 

https://www.autocratik.com/ • https://www.castingshadowsblog.com/

Quick-starts are a means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps two. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

—oOo—
What is it?
Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide is the quick-start for Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age, the latest version of the venerable fantasy roleplaying game first published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo, Inc. It is being published by Rebellion Unplugged, best known as the games arm of Rebellion, the publisher of long running British Science Fiction comic, 2000 AD, but in game terms for republishing the Games Workshop classics, Judge Dredd: The Game of Crime-Fighting in Mega-City One and Block Mania.

It is a thirty-two page, 730 MB full colour PDF.

However, it it does need an edit and the authors need to beg for forgiveness for the use of the word ‘stunting’ as a verb instead of the correct English language phrasing, ‘performing a stunt’.

The use of the word, ‘Knackered’, as a Tag though, is delightfully British, but in no way makes up for the erroneous error of ‘stunting’.

How long will it take to play?
Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide is designed to be played through in a single session, two at the very most. This includes Player Character creation.
What else do you need to play?
The Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide needs a handful of six-sided dice per player plus some tokens to represent Threat.
Who do you play?
The Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide does not come with any pre-generated Player Characters. Instead, rules are provided for the players to create their own.
How is a Player Character defined?An Adventurer the Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide has six attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Willpower, Intelligence, and Charisma, as well as three stats—Luck, Mana, and Stamina. These range in value between two and four. He also has a Kindred, of which six are suggested. These are Humankin, Halfkin, Dwarfkin, Elfkin, Orckin, and Goblinkin. The Kindred is a Player Character’s background, whilst his Motto sums up his approach to life and his traits provide a once-per-session ability. A Player Character’s Kindred provides both a trait and a motto, whilst a second trait will come from his choice of Path. Six paths are given. These are Path of Might, Path of Shadow, Path of Endurance, Path of Spirit, Path of Craft, and Path of Wizardry.

The rules also cover the creation of the Player Character party, which explains why they are all together.
How do the mechanics work?
Mechanically, Tunnels & Trolls has always employed a dice pool system, whether that is rolled against the monsters’ dice pool (derived from their combined Monster Rating) or as a Saving Throw against one of a Player Character’s attributes. The Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide also uses dice pools, but they are radically scaled down and both the players and the Game Master will be rolling more often rather than rolling more dice.
To have his character undertake an action, a player rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to an attribute. A roll of four or more is counted as a hit, whilst three or less is a miss. The aim is to roll as many hits as possible. Target Numbers range between one and five, with two being the standard Target Number. A Blessed roll means that hits are rolled on three and over, misses on two or less, whilst a Cursed roll means that hits are rolled on five and over, misses on four or less. Rolls of multiple values result in the dice pool exploding and a player being able to add more dice to the roll. A double adds two more dice to roll, a triple adds three more dice, and so on. An exceptional success occurs if three sixes are rolled, whilst a dramatic setback happens if three ones are rolled.
Luck can be spent to reroll dice on a one-for-one basis.
How does combat work?
Combat in the Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide starts with initiative, with Player Characters who succeed on the roll going before the monsters, and those who fail, after. A Player Character can perform one action per round, either a ‘Strike’, ‘Shoot’, ‘Spell’, or ‘Stunt’ action. A Stunt can be physical or verbal, and could be swinging on a chandelier to get across a room, taunting a villain, or diving into a pool of water to avoid a blast of magical fire. A Stunt can modify another action or an action in its own right. Most monsters will perform the ‘Strike’ action, whilst enemies or monsters with the ‘Elite’ tag are likely to have more options. The round ends when everyone has acted. If the Player Characters decide to keep going, they can each either gain a point of Stamina or a point of Luck. If they decide on the latter, they also gain a point of Threat, up to a maximum of three. If the monsters decide to keep going, they can trigger their escalation abilities, which might be special abilities, call for reinforcements, and so on.
To perform an attack, the player rolls a number of equal to the appropriate attribute, whilst the Game Master will roll the enemies’ Monster Rating. An enemy’s Monster Rating ranges between two and the average mook all the way up to six and thoroughly dangerous. The roll itself is an opposed roll, the aim being to roll more hits than the opponent. Tags, whether from the weapons and gear used, from the situation, or the monsters’ abilities, will affect the number of dice rolled, the amount of damage inflicted, and more.

Both sides will also add extra dice equal to their opponents’ Threat to the dice they roll. In addition, enemies will tend to target opponents who have higher Threat.
If the attacker rolls more hits than the defender, he wins, and the difference in the number of hits rolled is the amount of damage inflicted. If the defender rolls more hits than the attacker, no damage is inflicted. Armour reduces the damage suffered. Damage reduces Stamina. If reduced to zero for a monster, it is defeated, but for a Player Character, it means that he is wounded. His Stamina is then reset, but whilst he is wounded, if it is reduced to zero again, he is dead. For the enemies, Monster Rating does not reduce.
How does magic work?
Magic in the Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide is primarily gained from the Path of Wizardry selected during Player Character creation. A Player Character on the Path of Wizardry begins play with the ‘Wellspring’ Talent that enables him to regain or increase mana by spending Luck. His bonus talent will either be ‘Hexology’ or ‘Weaving’. The latter provides the Mending spell, whilst the latter gives Blasting Hex. Mending is actually a healing spell, restoring Stamina equal to the number of hits rolled. Blasting Hex is a damage spell, requiring an Intelligence roll versus an enemy’s Monster Rating. Damage inflicted ignores armour and the spell requires the caster to yell out something like, “Take That You Fiend!” in a nod to classic Tunnels & Trolls spell of the same name. All spells cost Mana to cast, with each point cast also increasing the number of dice a player rolls. 
What do you play?
The scenario in the Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide is ‘Trouble Brewing’. The world of Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age is one of trolls. In ages past, during the Eclipse, the Trolls smashed the great kingdoms and empires of the time, burying their secrets, technologies, and magic deep in the earth, where they remain today. When the sun returned, the Trolls fled and the world was rebuilt. Both Trolls and the past remain underground where would be heroes might find them. In ‘Trouble Brewing’, the Player Characters have come to Rust Bucket, the very run-down and only tavern in Market Tharnley where they have heard there is a tunnel entrance to be found. It is a detailed, two-act affair, initially focusing upon interaction and investigation along with some roleplay, as the Player Characters attempt to find out more from the Owlfolk barkeep, the adventuring patrons, and the locals. In the second act, the barkeep hires/cajoles/blackmails the Player Characters into investigating the cellar, having a fight with some surprisingly tough rats, and discovering a troll tunnel.
‘Trouble Brewing’ is more of a means to showcase the new Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age rules in play rather than provide a complete story from beginning to end.
Is there anything missing?
No. The Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide has everything the Game Master and her players will need to play. However, the scenario is very much an introduction at only two scenes long and thus provides only a limited play experience.
Is it easy to prepare?
Unfortunately, the Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide is not as easy to prepare as it could have been as it is quite detailed and there is a lot to go through, including character generation, before play can begin. There is a greater number of factors—Luck, Mana, Tags, and so on—for the Game Master and her players to keep track off during play as well. Players of previous versions of Tunnels & Trolls will find a much changed game, although there elements present from those previous editions. The roleplaying game is also not as fast playing as those previous editions, but does offer more options in terms of what the Player Characters can do.
Is it worth it?
Yes—for the most part. The Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide presents a solid introduction to the rules, including combat, character generation, and interaction. It is also supported by examples of both play and combat and there is advice for the Game Master. However, the included adventure, ‘Trouble Brewing’, is short and will only provide a limited play experience. 
The Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age – Quickstart Guide is published by Rebellion Unplugged and is available to download here.

As well as contributing to Free RPG Day every year Goodman Games also has its own ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day’. The day is notable not only for the events and the range of adventures being played for Goodman Games’ roleplaying games, but also for the scenarios it releases specifically to be played on the day. For ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics Day 2025’, which took place today on Saturday, July 19th, 2025,* the publisher is releasing not one, not two, but three scenarios, plus a limited edition printing of Dungeon Crawl Classics #108: The Seventh Thrall of Sekrekan. Two of the scenarios, ‘The Fall of Al-Razi’ and ‘Balticrawl Blitz’, appear in the duology, the DCC Day 2025 Adventure Pack. The third is DCC Day #6: The Key to Castle Whiterock. Both DCC Day #6: The Key to Castle Whiterock and ‘The Fall of Al-Razi’ are written for use with Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, whilst ‘Balticrawl Blitz’ is the first scenario for use with the Xcrawl Classics Role-Playing Game, the ‘Dungeon Crawl Classics’ adaptation and upgrade of the earlier Xcrawl Core Rulebook for use with Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, which turns the concept of dungeoneering into an arena sport and monetises it!

* The late international delivery of titles for DCC Day #6 means that these reviews are also late. Apologies.

DCC Day #6: The Key to Castle Whiterock does come with a bit of backstory. It is a preview and adventure for Castle Whiterock: The Greatest Dungeon Story Ever Told published by Goodman Games, which is the subject of a forthcoming crowdfunding campaign. This crowdfunding campaign brings back and updates Dungeon Crawl Classics #51: Castle Whiterock, originally published in 2007. It received its own preview for Free RPG Day, in 2007, in the form of Dungeon Crawl Classics #51.5: The Sinister Secret of Whiterock, and Castle Whiterock: The Greatest Dungeon Story Ever Told has already been given a preview in the form of The Dying Light of Castle Whiterock, published for Free RPG Day 2025. Both Dungeon Crawl Classics #51: Castle Whiterock and Dungeon Crawl Classics #51.5: The Sinister Secret of Whiterock were written for use with Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, but both Castle Whiterock: The Dying Light of Castle Whiterock and Castle Whiterock: The Greatest Dungeon Story Ever Told are written for use with two separate roleplaying games. These are the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. DCC Day #6: The Key to Castle Whiterock differs in that it is solely written for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

DCC Day #6: The Key to Castle Whiterock is designed for a party of First Level Player Characters and designed to introduce Castle Whiterock: The Greatest Dungeon Story Ever Told. If completed, the adventure will provide the Player Characters with a map of part of Castle Whiterock, details of one of its secrets, and some treasure, as well as some surprising allies. In doing so, they will go all the way back to Castle Whiterock’s origins as Clynnoise, a monastery that was home to the Order of the Dawning Sun, over a thousand years ago. Since that time, it has been sacked multiple times and been occupied by Orcs, cultists, a Red Dragon, and more recently, a band of slavers. In doing so, they will go all the way back to Castle Whiterock’s origins as Clynnoise, a monastery that was home to the Order of the Dawning Sun, over a thousand years ago. Since that time, it has been sacked multiple times and been occupied by Orcs, cultists, a Red Dragon, and more recently, a band of slavers. The Player Characters have set out to explore the dungeon of Castle Whiterock, but due to good fortune have come into possession of another map. This shows the location of a lone tomb in the Ul Dominor Mountains near Castle Whiterock. Deciphering the text on the map reveals that the tomb is the burial place of Reglee Callim, famed architect of the Clynnoise, and that she was buried with “[H]er wisdom, plans, and keys”. It suggests that she might have gone to her grave with notes about the building and layout of Clynnoise as well as the means to access the ancient ruins.

The adventure itself begins at the entrance as marked on the map, high up a circuitous path overlooking a valley. Beyond the entrance lies the Callim family tomb complex, a simple, two-level complex of tombs, chapels, and more, marked by sarcophagi, burial niches, and the like. There are undead and there are ghosts, just as you would expect in a tomb complex. There is also some treasure to loot, but not a great amount and barely a handful magical items. All in keeping with the low treasure rates to be expected of a Dungeon Crawl Classics scenario. However, the scenario is not just a tomb to be looted and there are a couple of good story strands to what is quite a simple dungeon. The first is that the dungeon is not infested with evil monsters, rather that the resting dead tends towards Law rather than Chaos. The second is that despite being dead for over a thousand years, the Player Characters can talk to Reglee Callim and gain some clues as to what to expect on the second level. However, whilst the third and final strand of the scenario is to be found on the second level, it is wholly unexpected. This is that the Player Characters are not the only invaders to the tomb. As the Player Characters have entered from above, a band of Goblins, lead by a would be Hobgoblin warlord, has entered from below and as the Player Characters discover, are looting from below.

The scenario offers two options in terms of how the Player Characters might react to the goblinoid presence. In classic style, they could slaughter the lot, though the band is quite large for a group of First Level Player Characters to defeat. Alternatively, the Player Characters could negotiate and even enter an alliance with the Hobgoblin warlord. For a share of the treasure, the warlord even provides several Goblins to fight alongside the Player Characters as well as to make sure their Hobgoblin boss gets her share. It brings a degree of co-operation to play that is not normally present in this style of roleplaying and often not at First Level as well as an unexpected element of roleplaying. The Hobgoblin warlord and her Goblin cohorts are nicely detailed, helping the Judge to portray them as they interact with the Player Characters.

Physically, DCC Day #6: The Key to Castle Whiterock is as well done as you would expect for a release from Goodman Games. The artwork is decent, but a little cartoonish in places, whilst the cartography is not as interesting as that usually found in Dungeon Crawl Classics scenarios. The cover is very nicely done, showing the moment the final confrontation in the dungeon.
DCC Day #6: The Key to Castle Whiterock has a lighter, though a not humorous, feel than most adventures for Dungeon Crawl Classics. If the Dungeon Master was willing, it is easily adapted to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition as per the guidelines given in Castle Whiterock: The Dying Light of Castle Whiterock. If the scenario is lacking, it is perhaps a good hook to keep the players and their characters interested to want to explore Castle Whiterock, but as a prequel to the campaign and if a playing group has set out to play Castle Whiterock: The Greatest Dungeon Story Ever Told, then DCC Day #6: The Key to Castle Whiterock is a solid addition to the campaign and sets the Player Characters with an advantage or two in readiness.

 Today is the start of the #RPGaDAY2025. 

This year, in addition to the prompts detailed below, I am going to write a lot on my Occult D&D project and some upcoming adventure ideas. It will help me focus on where those projects need to go.

We start this year’s #RPGaDAY with Patron, and I’m diving in with something near and dear to my design heart: Patrons for witches and warlocks.

Now, the usual suspects are easy to name; demons, devils, faerie lords and ladies, and Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the veil. And yes, I use all of them. Often. Enthusiastically.

But lately I’ve been thinking more about the other kinds of patrons. The less obvious ones. The ones that add flavor and complexity beyond the usual infernal bargain.

Here are a few I’ve been playing around with:

Dragons

Honestly, I should have done this ages ago. My oldest is dragon-obsessed, and I’ve lost count of how many dragon miniatures, plushies, and LEGO sets we have in the house.

Dragons are ancient, magical, and powerful. Why wouldn’t a warlock or witch swear themselves to a mighty drake of time or flame? Not just as treasure-hoarding monsters, but as elemental, almost divine beings with long memories and stranger agendas. Only the most ancient and cunning ones offer pacts, and they always come with a price.

Angels

This one’s a bit unexpected, but stick with me.

Crack open any New Age spellbook or Victorian spiritualist guide, and you’ll find incantations invoking angels, Raphael, Michael, Uriel, and so on.

Why should only demons offer deals?

The Watchers of Enochian lore taught witchcraft, after all. And their punishment? Eternal exile, watching their children, the Nephilim, fall. There’s something beautiful and tragic there. An angelic patron might offer guidance, power, or forbidden knowledge, but at what cost to their divine purpose?

Animal Lords

Briefly touched on this in one of my warlock projects, but worth revisiting. These are like the Archfey, but aligned with the primal wild. Lords of the Fox, the Raven, the Serpent, the Stag, each with their own ancient cults, taboos, and riddles. A warlock bound to the Panther Lord might wear shadows like a cloak. A witch devoted to the La Lechuza, the Owl Queen, might speak only in questions and dreams.

Witch Queens

When a witch becomes powerful enough, she doesn’t kneel to a patron, she becomes one.

Witch Queens are legendary figures of folklore and power. Some, like Aradia, are benevolent guides. Others, like Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, demand devotion, transformation, and sacrifice. These patrons are perfect for witches who walk the line between mortal and myth.

Daimons

Not demons. Not daemons. Not even spirits in the traditional D&D sense.

Daimons, in the Platonic and Gnostic traditions, are spirits of knowledge—divine intermediaries who speak in symbols, guide seekers to hidden truths, and sometimes lead them into madness. A warlock who binds themselves to a daimon may not fully understand what they've done. But the dreams come anyway. And the visions never lie.

Honestly, I have way more, an absurd number, really. But these are some of my favorites right now. I love patrons that aren’t just “here’s some spells, go cause chaos,” but instead add weight and weirdness to a character’s story. The best patrons change their warlocks and witches. Slowly. Irrevocably.

And that’s where the real fun begins.

Questions

There are also questions I can answer. So let's roll and see what I get. 

I got "How," "Grateful," and "Person." 

Translating..."Who is a Person I am Grateful for and How?"

Hmm...Assuming I am keeping this in the game sphere...I am going to say Len Lakofka. Len passed away a few years ago, but not before we could establish a good online correspondence. His articles in Dragon were some of my favorite, so being able to talk to him much later in my life was a real treat. I am sad to see he is gone.

Shall we go shopping? Shopping can be a necessity, it can be a chore, and it can be fun. Whether online or in person, we need to shop for essentials, but there are times when it can be a pleasure. Perhaps browsing for a new book or looking for the perfect outfit for that big event. Shopping in roleplaying though? Exactly the same. For the Game Master, it can be an exercise in tedium as her players pick over the contents of the rulebook’s equipment list or the roleplaying game’s equipment guide. For the player, it can be all part of the roleplaying experience, building his characters with the right gear, whether for flavour or the right effect. It even has a certain mystique of its own, because in most cases, what a player is buying for his character, is not a pint of milk, a loaf of bread, and a box of tea bags, but everything he could never imagine buying for himself. A chain hauberk, a short sword, a silver mirror, sleeping furs, a bag of caltrops, a Geiger counter, a Bergmann M.P.18,I submachine gun, a vial of black scorpion contact poison, and whatnot and so on and so on… What then of the staff? The life of the shop worker is very rarely exciting, bar the occasional encounter with a shoplifter or a fire evacuation, but what if that was not the case? Could a day in the life of a shop worker actually be exciting, or even interesting? With Get It At Sutler’s, it could actually be both.
Get It At Sutler’s is a supplement for TROIKA!, the science-fantasy role-playing game of exploring the multiverse. It is published by the Melsonian Arts Council, and much like the recent Whalgravaak’s Warehouse and The Hand of God adventures, it presents another aspect of the great city of Troika which lies at the heart of said multiverse. Its focus is firmly upon shopping, but firmly upon the staff perspective, and upon the hijinks and misadventures they have as employees of the greatest, the most fashionable, and the most prestigious department store in all of Troika. Whether it is Harrods, Liberty, Selfridges, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Le Bon Marché, and even Grace Brothers from the BBC comedy series, Are You Being Served?, the department store not only sells you everything, but it does also so with courtesy and a degree of prestige. Its halls are places to be seen and its name carries a certain cachet, and its always polite staff have a certain way of doing things, for a department store is a world unto itself. Sutler’s is no different. It is just a whole weirder—and it really, really specialises in fish.
There is no call for any particular character type for Get It At Sutler’s. The Player Characters have simply applied for a job at the department store and in this age of the gig economy, can put in a shift at any time of the day or night. Except bank holidays, when Sutler’s is closed. The management pays only for shifts worked. After all, a Player Character cannot spend all of his time adventuring across the multiverse and does have rent and food to pay for. Plus, all that time spent adventuring across the multiverse does not always pay for said rent and food. Putting in a shift at Sutler’s might just mean keeping the turbot from the door.
What Get It At Sutler’s is not is a complete guide to a department store, from the basement to the top floor, from department to department, from deliveries in to deliveries out, from just out the back to the department’s café where being seen is all that matters, from its prestigious food hall to the office of the night manager. Rather, it is an adventure or encounter generator. All the players have to do is to decide that their characters are to put in a shift and the Game Master can make a roll on the ‘shop business matrix’ to determine the time of year, how busy the shift will be, and what the most exciting thing that will happen to the characters on that shift. The six categories are ‘Quiet Day’, ‘Helping Customers’, ‘Stock Control’, ‘Feast Day’, ‘Tourists’, and ‘Heaving Wall of Flesh’, the latter referring to a day when Sutler’s is very busy and the Player Characters are facing ‘Too Many Customers’.For example, a roll for ‘Heaving Wall of Flesh’ might be “A live-catch tank leaked overnight, and the stain looks like the gaping face of St Mungo. People looking for his blessings are queuing along every isle, mixed in with innocent fish buyers. Tensions flare.” whilst a roll for ‘Stock Control’ a day might involve, “The Society of Porters and Basin Fillers is on strike, meaning you must collect your own fish from the back warehouses. You may TEST YOUR LUCK or else get lost and trapped in the store overnight. Beware the Nightmanager.”Beyond an adventure or encounter generator, What Get It At Sutler’s is also a bestiary of Enemies that the Player Characters might face on a shift at the department store. From the All-Terrain Shark, the Cutter Clam that can be used as weapons with their fleshy siphons, and the Palyngers, the city’s eels that are known to be incumbent souls standing ready to be reborn, but are still a staple food, to the members of Troika’s great and good, such as the Alcalde, the city’s unpredictable peacekeepers and spies commanded by the Great Cairo, the Cocksure Gamins, juveniles on great adventures of armies, kings, and queens, which actually look delinquency, and simply, Too Many Customers. There are also members of Sutler’s’ staff, such as the genial Daymanager, who everyone sees once, but rarely sees again; the long-legged, pinstriped Floorwalkers whose bodies lurk near the ceiling, only descending to deal with violent incidences; and the well-built and sunburnt barbarians who work as Florists despite their violent sense of humour and toxic work culture. Then there is the Nightmanager, the counterbalance and sinister shadow to the Daymanager, again rarely seen, but known to break the rules, replenish the stock, and creepily observe the doings of the department store. As you would expect from a Troika! supplement, these are all weird and odd and intriguing, and there are even mini-adventures or hooks, like those for the Disciplinary Ordeal, that can take place instead of a Player Character being fired!
Get It At Sutler’s closes with three appendices. In turn, these detail the Troikan year, a selection of fish products, and ‘Pisceans in the Second House – A Sutler’s Adventure’. This introduces Sutler’s and takes the Player Characters from their interview with the beatific Daymanager and into their first shift as a probationary member of staff. It is an unsettlingly fishy affair, and rightly so. The suggestion is that this could happen after the events detailed in ‘The Blancmange & Thistle’, the scenario in the Troika! rulebook. Of course, it would be fascinating to see an anthology of scenarios set just within the halls and departments of Sutler’s.
Physically, Get It At Sutler’s is a delightful book. Troika!’s art is always off kilter and Get It At Sutler’s is no different. In between, full page greyscale pieces capture the vastness and scope of the department store, as well as just how busy it can get.
Get It At Sutler’s is not a campaign setting or a sourcebook in the traditional sense. It does depict and describe a setting, but rather than simply laying out the details, it places them in encounters to be found by the Game Master, and then developed and presented to her players. It gives ideas and encounters—and lots of them—in a world within a world, that of a department store, that the Player Characters will visit when they need money or the Game Master wants to run something in between fuller, more traditional scenarios. Such traditional scenarios might even be run as ‘Disciplinary Ordeals’ since the management at Sutler’s is loath to truly fire anyone. The supplement is thus particularly useful when not all of the players are present or the campaign is between scenarios.
Get It At Sutler’s is a delightfully unconventional framework and book of encounters and hooks for the Game Master to develop and so bring to life, the world of the department store, in true Troika! style. It is a world of piscine peculiarity and harrowing hierarchy, one that gives the Player Characters something to do and somewhere to be, on their quite literally, odd offdays.

 This week's Into the Forgotten Realms game was interrupted again. My oldest, Liam, wanted to go to Games Plus to buy a particular FFG/Edge Star Wars book. I had been wanting to go to pick up some paints and primer for all the demons and devils I have been printing out lately. 

Aside...don't expect to see many of my painted minis here. I am really just not that good, but looking over the Shadowheart I finished last night, I am getting better. 

Anyway, they didn't have the book he wanted, so he bought a bunch of others. Hey, he is a professional with a full-time job.  He can spend his money how he likes. He is saving for a condo so he can move out, and in truth, I am not rushing the professional live-in-chef out the door.

Game night became a session of character creation and painting. 

The new EDGE (previously Fantasy Flight Games) Star Wars RPG is fun. I am not a huge fan of a bunch of unique fiddly dice, but it seems fine here. He is starting a game with his group set during the Old Republic Days.

We had a blast, I even threatened to take my old Star Wars figures out of storage. 

While my fondness for the d20 Star Wars game is largely based on my desire back in the early 1980s to mix "D&D and Star Wars," this game is pretty good.  The books are gorgeous with a good mix of screen stills from the movies and art. Plus we keep remarking on how they had the "new book" smell.

We printed out some character sheets and got to work.

Ever since he was little, Liam loved Mandalorians. He has outgrown two different Jango Fett cosplay outfits, and he has a huge collection of Mandalorian Lego mini-figs and two (or three) Lego Slave-I kits. so he made a whole cadre of Mandalorian commandos. Which is also the next set of minis he wants me to paint. 

Of course, he was not the only one there with obsessions.

One of his players is playing a Nightsister. I told him I had a Nightsister mini he could use for it in my "witch box."  I told him he could have it.

I told Liam to offer the Bugbear first!

You already know where I am going with this. I mean if Liam recreated his iconic Bounty Hunter he plays in every game, and I am given the option of playing a goth, Force-wielding witch then what do you think I am going to do?

Jedis are so 1980s, new game, new (ish) idea.  Besides, I already had an action figure for her.

Larina Nix

Species: Human
Career: Mystic
Specialization Trees: Nightsister Witch

Soak Value 0
Wounds 11
Strain 13
Defense 0

Characteristics
Brawn 1
Agility 1
Intellect 2
Cunning 2
Willpower 3
Presence 3

Skills
General: Charm 3, Discipline 2, Medicine 1, Perception 2, Stealth 1, Survival 2
Combat: Melee 1
Knowledge: Lore 1, Outer Rim 1

Talents
Witchcraft: Force Rating +1
Summon Item: Duskblade

Force Powers
Conjure. Magnitude 1, Control 1
Move (aka TK). Magnitude 2, Range 1, Control 1

Force Rating 2

Weapons
Duskblade, Dam +3, Pierce 2, Superior. Summonable

Motivations
Faith (Natural World), Ambition (Enlightenment and Discovery)

Morality
Strength: Curiosity
Weakness: Obsession
Morality: 50

Gender: Female
Age: 25
Height: 1.6 meters
Build: Average
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue

So who is this Larina? She is a brand new character (just 110 XP used). I figure she was left on Dathomir and raised by the Nightsisters. I am hesitant to say she is/was the only human on Dathomir because I know very little about Star Wars outside of the movies and Disney+ shows. But she is rare enough and at the time of the game she was the only human she knew. 

She is adventuring out into the galaxy to discover who she is and why she was left there. As she progresses, I want to give me more mental/psychic force powers.  I am not sure if she ran away from Dathomir (say like the Doctor) or was allowed to leave to further the goals of the Mother Superior (like Shadowheart). Either way she is discovering the galaxy is much, much larger than she knew. 

This allows me to play my favorite archetype with her, the country-girl/pagan visiting the big city. She is naïve, but not dumb, on the contrary, she is quite intelligent (strange that is exactly the sort of girl I married). I saw there was an option for religion, so she worships "The Winged Goddess."  I saw that and thought, if it was related to the Great Bird of the Galaxy, and almost immediately I began concocting a Star Wars/Star Trek crossover!

I'd also like her to get an astromech droid. Something that would act as her "familiar" and because I also loved those little guys. 

I am not sure how much of this game I will play. My son is very excited for it, but I'd love to get back to the Forgotten Realms sometime soon.

OH, and the book he wanted? Turns out it is a fan-made guide that we can download for free!

NOTE: It seems that Dathomiri are more or less human anyway. Ok. No worries.